Organic aquaculture standards deemed suspect
Some fish farmers operating in British Columbia are already marketing their salmon as certified under a new organic regime developed in Canada. One of the main battlefronts seen during the writing process of the organic standards was the argument about whether the regulatory regime for aquaculture was strong enough with respect to environmental issues like pollution and escapes, as well as the source of raw materials used to make fish feed. Now the US wants to follow suit, but as a recent article in Harvest Public Media explains, it will be an uphill battle:
When it comes to organic certification, there are strict guidelines for food producers to follow. For an organic steak, the cow it came from has to be raised on organic feed and the feed mix can’t be produced with pesticides, chemical fertilizers or genetic engineering.
Now, the U.S. Department of Agriculture in considering a set of rules for organic farmed fish
The feed for fish to eat is at the center of the debate. The standards recommended by the National Organic Standards Board, a federal advisory board whose members are appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture, suggest guidelines for how fish can be grown organically in pens in the ocean and how much wild caught fish can be used as protein in fish feed. “What the national organic standards board recommended was that there would be some allowance for non-organic fish feed that would be phased out after a 12-year period of time,” said Miles Mcevoy, the deputy administrator of the USDA’s National Organic Program.
Many organic stakeholders, however, say an organic diet is important for organic livestock and fish. Lisa Bunin, the organic policy director at the Center for Food Safety, says fish farmed under the recommended standards shouldn’t be certified as organic. “It’s not 100 percent organic and organic requires all animals to have an organic diet,” she said. Bunin is also concerned about raising farmed fish in pens in the open ocean, as farmers can’t control what toxins the fish are exposed to. Ocean-based fish farms could also be a source of pollution. Diseases can pass between populations of wild and farmed fish. “The particles from these facilities eventually settle on the ocean floor and can dramatically alter the oxygen and reduce the population of bottom dwelling animals,” Bunin said. Consumer groups like Food and Water Watch and the Consumers Union have also opposed the recommended standards for organically farmed fish.
Organic at the core
The organic food market is exploding – it’s currently worth about $35 billion (~€31 billion) a year—and many fish farmers and retailers want in. But some in the organic industry worry that certifying farmed fish as organic would mark a watering down of organic standards. “There will be a significant consumer education piece involved in what is difference between a conventionally farmed fish and an organically farmed one,” said Nathaniel Lewis with the Organic Trade Association. “And how does that relate to the difference between a conventional egg and an organic egg.”
With so many labels on food products at the grocery store, some worry that an organic label might lose its power. The USDA plans to publish its organic standard proposal for farmed fish by summer. That will open a public comment period of at least 60 days.
